Comments (10)

You may be right about Lars...but if you find yourself agreeing with him, it's probably time to really think about what you're saying. There's a very high probability that there's a flaw if Lars says it. Listener beware!

The results also show that the public -- even in Multnomah County -- no longer believes its public officials' comments on taxes, the budget, and expenses. The Oregon public believed what Govs. McCall and Straub said, even when they disagreed (witness the defeat of the McCall tax plan at the polls ca 1972). Not so today, especially with taxes. I trace the root back to Gov. Roberts' term, when a tax limitation measure failed 49-51. The day after the election, the governor said something to the effect that the results prove that Oregonians didn't think that their taxes were too high, conveniently ignoring the difference between a landslide and a squeaker.

I certainly no longer believe public officials when they poormouth about taxes (if I ever did). It's amazing how every single tax measure that comes down the pike is the thin green line between civilization and finding the blasted ruins of the Statue of Liberty on a beach somewhere--and yet, when the measures are defeated, life goes on. It's also amazing how there's always enough money for one more boondoggle at public expense no matter how tight the budget is supposed to be.

Jack, you were right on Edwards, so maybe your "No" vote is based on your psychic abilities being able to see the legislature going back to Salem and actually re-working the cuts to make them less draconian. But I don't trust the idiots will be able to rework squat. The proposed tax increase was the result of painfully long bickering and everyone walked away unhappy. I just don't trust that they'll be able to "fix" these massive cuts.

I'm amazed that folks who don't trust politicians to be straight when talking taxes do expect them to return to Salem and effectively negotiate a new budget.

I registered. I register to all those sites, using the same name and the same password and filling their database with bogus info. My name is TNYTCBMSMA (The New York Times Can Bite My Shiny Metal Ass, since TNYT was the first site where I did this). 100 year-old black woman CEO of a Florida telecom company? You betcha. 19 year-old janitor making $100,000+ scrubbing toilets? Yup.

Road Work

Miles run year to date: 66
At this date last year: 144
Total run in 2016: 155
In 2015: 271
In 2014: 401
In 2013: 257
In 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269